June Words of Wisdom

To be good, and to do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words. (Abigail Adams) 

 

The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous. (Frederick Douglass)

 

Being hated by idiots is the price you pay for not being one of them. (Jean Cocteau) 

 

Nothing but this gaunt quiet. (H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds)

 

I like being at home. My life is very simple. I read a lot of books. I watch a lot of movies, listen to a lot of music, walk the dog. Cook with my family. I am boring. (Cillian Murphy) (Note: Sounds like a good time to me!) 

 

 

May Words of Wisdom

When I die, sprinkle my ashes over the 80's. (David Lee Roth) 

 

I want a book to take me to the place I want to be. (James McBride) 

 

It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well. (Rene Descartes)

 

It's amazing how many people think that they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them. (Thomas Sowell) 

 

When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals. (Edward Snowden) 

 

We must have ideals and try to live up to them, even if we never quite succeed. Life would be a sorry business without them. (Lucy Maud Montgomery)

 

I could not live in any of the worlds offered to me...I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself when destroyed by living. That, I believe, is the reason for every work of art. (Anais Nin) 

 

Even when I feel nothing, I feel it completely. (Sylvia Plath) 

 

Santa Anita icon Trevor Denman wins Eclipse Award

Trevor Denman, the long-time voice of Santa Anita Racetrack (along with other Southern Cal tracks) has been awarded an Eclipse Award for Career Excellence. If you don't know, the Eclipse is horse racing's version of the Academy Award.

 

From the linked article:

 

“I am so honored to receive this award and will treasure it forever. I wish to thank Alan Balch of Santa Anita and Joe Harper of Del Mar for giving an unknown kid a chance to call at such prestigious tracks back in 1983. I also thank all the fans for their tremendous support over the years. Thank you all!”

 

Notwithstanding his distinctive accent, Denman broke the mold of traditional race callers with a welcoming and innovative style. While most American announcers stuck to the basics of calling the specific order of the races and lengths in front or behind horses during points of call, Denman incorporated commentary and analysis into his race calls...

 

And he created a signature stamp at the gate break for each race with “And away they go.” 

 

At one time, Denman was calling the races at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Del Mar, and Pomona (Fairplex) during a prolific annual schedule.

 

Denman called races for more than 50 years. Besides his extensive Southern California stint, he worked at tracks in the Bay Area and on the East Coast, as well as calling the Breeders’ Cup races when ESPN had the TV rights to the championship event. Additionally, he provided the calls in several racing movies and dozens of television shows.

 

Yep, he has an imdb entry! 

 

Born in South Africa, Denman made his Southern California debut at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meet in 1983. He retired from Santa Anita in 2015. He continued calling at Del Mar until announcing his retirement from racing in 2025.  

 

Here's a great example of Denman's calling ability - the 1988 Santa Anita Derby, won by future Kentucky Derby champion Winning Colors (one of only three fillies to ever win the Run for the Roses):

 

 

Someone on YouTube put together a collection of forty of Denman's calls.

 

Congratulations to Trevor Denman!

 

Taxed to death

So nice of PetSmart to break out all the taxes we pay here in Los Angeles. Keep in mind, all I bought was cat food.

 

 

Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. California taxes are out of control. Being in L.A. just compounds it. One can only hope we get new, competent leadership at some point.

 

Even Kermit is leaving Hollywood

For years the entertainment industry has been fleeing Hollywood. Vancouver, Toronto, North Carolina, New Mexico and Georgia are just a few of the places that have benefited from this exodus, mainly due to the vastly lower cost of doing business outside of California.

 

And now Kermit the Frog is departing Tinseltown. The Kermit-as-Little-Tramp statue that has graced the main gate of The Jim Henson Company on La Brea for so long has been gifted by Henson's family to The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. 

 

The lot, originally Charlie Chaplin Studios and later A&M Records, was sold last year so that may be the reason for this move, although if I bought the place I would have tried to include Kermit's statue as part of the deal. 

 

I think the gate is going to look sadly naked without it as another part of Hollywood history moves on. I haven't been to that part of town in ages, but I may need to drive by so Kermit's nod to the lot's founder can make me smile one last time.

 

Farewell!!! (*sniffles*)

 

UPDATE 1/2/26: Looks like there is some good news - John Mayer and McG, who bought the Henson lot, have renamed it for Chaplin and intend to preserve its history. Note: If you want to read the entire article linked in that post, you'll need a subscription to the L.A. Times.

 

Apocalyptic Now

The view from my balcony late yesterday afternoon. I'm about 9-10 miles south of the Pacific Palisades fire, where this smoke is coming from:

 

 This morning:

About what I was expecting. Our air is brown. If I have to go out, I'll be digging out a mask from the COVID days. Also, the wind is kicking up again, which is bad.

I'm fortunate to not be in any of the fire areas, but it was terrifying and depressing to watch one fire after another crop up and explode yesterday and into the evening. One started in Eaton Canyon above Arcadia and wreaked havoc on Pasadena and surrounding areas. The Palisades fire has wiped out almost the entire town then headed into Malibu and apparently has destroyed blocks of homes on Pacific Coast Highway right on the beach as well as a number of venerable businesses including the Reel Inn and Malibu Feed Bin. It's also caused evacuations in north Santa Monica.

I've also heard there have been two fatalities, but considering how fast these fires spread, I won't be surprised if there are many more.

There's already been discussions online about how our state and local governments have handled water resources, forestry management, and budget cuts to local fire departments, but there will be plenty of time to examine that later. I'm sure there's plenty of blame to go around, and even with the catastrophic winds, I'm guessing that better management and funding of resources may not have prevented the fires themselves from spreading, but I'm thinking it didn't have to be this absolute carnage. I can't even bring myself to pull pictures and video for this post. When all is said and done, this is going to be destruction of historic proportions, and I feel so awful when I think of the thousands of people who have lost their homes and businesses. I don't know how much more people can take.

 

Updated 1/10/25: Just found out a friend lost her house in Altadena because of the Eaton Fire. This is just so brutal and awful.

When California was the (fake) world

This turned up on Lost Angeles on FB, and it's so cool!

 

 

Look, I live in Venice, Italy!

Recent reading: "The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger"

 

The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger: The Inside Story of California's First Drive-Thru and How It Became a Beloved Cultural Icon 

by Lynsi Snyder

 

It may sound weird (especially if you've never had the pleasure of eating at In-N-Out) but one of the best things about being a Californian - especially in this sorry age of the not-so-Golden State - is the ability to claim the In-N-Out Burger chain as our own. 

Lynsi Snyder had the great fortune to be the only In-N-Out heir born into her generation and after her uncle, father, and grandparents passed away, she inherited the successful and beloved chain while only in her twenties. Now forty-one, she has stepped up and grabbed the baton, continuing the high standards set by previous generations and has led In-N-Out to even greater growth than ever imagined, and without any compromise. After reading this book, I have a great deal of admiration for her. She works hard, she works smart, she holds herself to high standards, and she doesn't let it overwhelm her. If you check out her social media, you'll find someone who is having a blast and living her best life.

 

Lynsi repeatedly praises the In-N-Out workers (known as associates) and the customers, always giving them credit for the continued success of the company. Before I even finished this book, not only was I craving their food, but also found myself wondering why I never applied to work there. My first-ever real job as an unskilled sixteen-year-old was at McDonald's, which is the perfect place for someone unskilled and inexperienced. It was actually pretty good training. But In-N-Out is on another planet in terms of how they train, treat, pay, and promote their associates. The examples of In-N-Out's beyond the call of duty way of doing things are too numerous for a blog post - read the book and learn.

To her credit, Lynsi also addresses some of the issues that have plagued her family, including drugs and abuse, her ill-advised early and unsuccessful marriages, and she does it simply, without apology, and with grace. She is currently in a happy, healthy place, and has become the great leader that In-N-Out needed after losing both members of the second Snyder generation before their time, leaving the company in a potentially vulnerable position. She has also dedicated her company and herself to multiple non-profit organizations that combat against and aid victims of child abuse, substance abuse, and human trafficking.

Snyder has four children of her own and I imagine they are being groomed to continue the glory that is In-N-Out Burger without compromise for generations to come. And that is great news for Californians and fans of great burgers, amazing service, and high quality food. 

From the book:

Together with my team, I began studying our menu on the most intricate level to see if we could improve quality even more, making items better and healthier. We discovered a number of practices we were using were outdated. For instance, we worked with all our bakers to remove calcium propionate (a mold inhibitor) in our buns and replaced it with natural enzymes. With our chilis and pickles, we removed artificial Yellow 5 and replaced the additive with natural turmeric. In our strawberry shake syrup we removed artificial Red 40 and replaced it with natural fruit juice. In our vanilla shake we removed ethyl vanillin and replaced it with natural vanilla. In all our shakes and lemonade we cut out high fructose corn syrup and replaced it with natural sugar.

 

The Babylon Bee looks back on the Storm of the Century

Hilarious as always.

Devastating Pictures of Hurricane Hilary's Aftermath:

Failure of Hurricane Hilary to live up to expectations? Russian interference, of course!

Time to restore Los Angeles to its previous third world shithole status:

This would be funny if it wasn't actually true:

Storm of the Century

So Hurricane Hilary, the first tropical storm to hit Los Angeles since 1939, has come and gone. In my part of town, the result was almost non-stop rain, heavy at times, for a period of about twenty-four hours. I didn't notice particularly high winds, although it was breezy at times but that's not unusual for us. I've seen higher winds just out shopping on a nice day. And by lunchtime Monday everything was bright and sunny again, the previous day's doom and gloom an old memory.

Unfortunately, not all areas were as lucky as mine. Palm Springs got hit hard. In fact, most of the really serious issues seem to be centered mostly in the desert area, although it turned out that cancelling their Sunday game in advance was a good move by the Dodgers, whose parking lot is an unorganized living hell after games on a good day. Overall, California got a lot of much-needed rain with no loss of life.

But because the most-hyped weather in years just wasn't enough, we also got an earthquake! I was laying on my bed reading and felt a soft jolt. For a second I thought Sophie had jumped onto the bed, but when I didn't see her I thought, "Was that an earthquake?" I got up and felt a couple seconds of swaying, which confirmed my suspicion. Other than that, that was it. It was very minor where I lived. The quake turned out to be a 5.1 centered in Ojai, in Ventura County. And (in addition to some social media "What's next, Sharknado? jokes) apparently it created a new word:

Leave it to The Babylon Bee to get into the act:

 

And now, back to our regularly scheduled August weather.

House-hunting, California style!

The Babylon Bee strikes again!

Be sure to watch all the way to the end to learn how your state can become a third-world shithole just like California!

 

And gas stations, I'd sit in line all day for that...

...especially with gas prices in California.

These are some bargains I could get into.

CSI: Sacramento

When he's not being crowned U-Haul Salesman of the Year for his role in the mass exodus of Californians worn down by Dem policies to more freedom loving states, Gavin Newsom is addressing other important issues that require his immediate attention (unlike the homeless crisis, crime, and record-high gas prices). Check this out:

 

That sound you hear is Golden State crime writers firing up their laptops. Because (all together now) what could possibly go wrong and how can I use it in a story? 

 

Kind of reminds me of this:

Thanks for the story fodder, Gavin! At least he's making himself useful to Californians for a change. 

 

Beams of light

Snicked from various places on the internets.

Christmas in California

Pat Sajak nailed the sadly deteriorating condition of the once Golden State:

 

Time to drag this one out of mothballs, I guess:

"Your papers please, Miss Betzler..."

Every time I see another news story about a vaccine "passport" being required for admittance, I hear Sam Rockwell's German-accented voice saying that line from JoJo Rabbit. Which is why I found this amusing in a warped sort of way:

Yeah, I don't recognize this country anymore either. 

Speaking of Nazis, even Hitler couldn't turn his people into compliant sheep in only a year and a half. Kristallnacht, viewed as a prelude to the Holocaust, occurred in 1938, with the Holocaust itself not beginning until 1941. Looks like congratulations are in order for our political overlords. They herded us up and crushed our will in record time. Well played, you evil bastards. History will judge you and all that.

H/T to patriotgirl.1776 on Instagram.

 

Cool plates

Didn't get a chance to take pics, but yesterday going to and from the store I saw a trio of really cool license plates.

In the parking lot, one car had VEN BCH. I wonder how long they've had it. My late godfather, an Arcadia, California historian, had the plates ARCADIA and OAK TREE on his and his wife's plates. Not sure if she kept them after he passed away.

Just a few spots down from VEN BCH was a car sporting plates declaring I LV NY (California plates - the classic gold lettering-on-black, no less).

Then driving home I saw a car sporting DLVR BBS. It took me a few seconds to realize what it meant...deliver babies!!!

And just to top off the automotive experience for the day, the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile was parked out in front of the hotels down the street. 

This was right after the rest of my patio furniture arrived! So just a good day all-around.

Stranger than fiction, indeed

Don't even get me started on Gavin Newsom. There's so many reasons Californians want him gone, so many reasons he's been terrible for the state. Maybe some other time.

However, one of the more bizarre pandemic-related things he's done is going the lottery route for people who've gotten the vaccine. Hosted by him, of course.

With that in mind, this just popped up on my social media:

Okay, I totally get what the guy who posted it is going for, but just the oddness of it all is what's been on my mind lately. So I replied with this:

Unfortunately Serling is no longer with us and hasn't been for a long, long time. But I think it says a lot about his genius that decades later he's still our go-to guy for the bizarre, especially in terms of powerful political figures (or "the state" as Rod was fond of slyly referring to them). Tell me this doesn't look like a scene out of a Serling script.

We are truly living in bizarro world, but I'm still betting on the good guys to win. I just wish that day would hurry up and get here. I'm getting kind of tired of feeling like I'm living in an episode of The Twilight Zone.

Even the Rose Bowl is leaving California for Texas

The traditional New Year's Day college bowl game will be played in Arlington, Texas instead of Pasadena. 

I came across that news right after reading this shit:

My response:

You can read more reactions to this post here.

From reading some of the responses, it looks like the quote possibly came from Newsom's spokesperson, but even so, it still expresses his opinion and is right in line with the arrogance and lack of concern he's shown over how his shutdowns are crippling California businesses and livelihoods, while flaunting the rules he imposes on us peons. Remember The French Laundry? Or how he kept his winery open over the 4th of July while shutting down the rest of the state? 

Asshole.

Updated 12/23/20: Yep, it was his spokescritter. Still, he speaks on behalf of Newsom and it's not like Newsom has shown any sign of giving a crap about his constituents, so I stand by my belief that this is exactly how he feels about the people of California, who deserve better.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas in California!